England bowlers' display delights Andrew Strauss

England captain Andrew Strauss praised his bowlers after they dismissed India for 261 to hand his side a 196-run victory in the first Test at Lord's.

James Anderson took 5-65 and Stuart Broad 3-57 with Chris Tremlett and Graeme Swann claiming a wicket apiece.

"I thought it was going to be hard work but it was an outstanding bowling performance the way they worked as a unit," Strauss told BBC Sport.

"They really needed to create pressure and they did that fantastically well."

Strauss reserved special words of praise for Twenty20 captain Broad, who some felt should have been left out to make way for Tim Bresnan before the team was named on Thursday.

"He showed what real talent he has both with the bat and the ball and he was outstanding with the ball in this Test," he added.

Phil TufnellFormer England bowler and BBC summariser

“You can't argue with the decision to give Pietersen the man of the match award, he thoroughly deserves it”

"It is always difficult when your place in the side is questioned so I am really pleased for Stuart that he came out and showed what a great player he is."

Strauss admitted he was also impressed by the performances of man-of-the-match Kevin Pietersen and Matt Prior.

Pietersen hit an unbeaten 202 in the first innings and Strauss said: "That was one of the greatest innings I've seen, certainly since I've been part of the side. For a large part of the innings he had to dig in and couldn't score at a fast rate.

"He had to wait for the runs to come and he showed his class and his temperament as well.

"There are not many better wicketkeeper-batsmen out there than Matt. It is not just the runs he scores but the way he scores them.

"He is in the same mould as Adam Gilchrist in that he scores quickly and is hard to defend against.

"His keeping has been very solid as well and it is fantastic to have someone like him walking in at number seven. He is a very selfless cricketer."

Pietersen admitted that he had been forced to curb his natural attacking instincts for most of his marathon innings.

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He told BBC Sport: "It's always nice to get some runs and to get them in a winning cause.

"It was a tough old slog to get in there and you had to try and play straight and play late and that was what I tried to do. And to get through it and then eventually have a bit of a slog from 150 to 200 was great.

"To be fair only when Swanny came in did it actually feel like I had the freedom to do anything - up until then I needed to graft and I grafted the whole way through that innings."

Pietersen warned that despite the victory England should not expect an easy ride for the remaining three Tests at Trent Bridge, Edgbaston and the Oval.

"India are sluggish starters and they definitely will come back at us. They are the best team in the world in Test cricket and we know that it's only one game out of four matches and we are going to have to continue playing good cricket to win."

Pietersen's views were backed up by Anderson, whose five-wicket haul saw him added to the Lord's honours board for the third time.

"The first game of a series is always crucial to try to get off to a good start. We're ahead but we can't rest on our laurels - we have to try to improve and play even better than we have here and look to go two-nil up in the series," he said.

England will go into the second Test with an unchanged squad - and in all likelihood an unchanged XI with Yorkshire bowler Tim Bresnan again missing out - at a ground where Anderson has traditionally prospered.

In four Tests at Trent Bridge, the 28-year-old has taken 28 wickets at an average of under 16 and he accrued his sole Test 10-wicket match haul there last year with figures of 11-71 against Pakistan.

However, insisting he was taking nothing for granted, Anderson added: "It's generally quite flat there. If it swings great but you've got to prepare as if it won't and look to play some good hard cricket."

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